Eat, sleep, breathe, drink, Arsenal

It seems I was one of but a few who found a decent stream to watch the match if Twitter is anything to go by. I decided to break my self-imposed ban on the social media site during a match just to check if it is still a place best avoided. Generally the mood wasn’t as confrontational as I had feared, but the need to have second by second updates meant the bigger picture was lost in the immediacy of judgement on such a medium. I don’t mind admitting I get sucked in by it all. The ban will be reinstated.

We could not have got off to a better start. Theo Walcott raced from right to left, exchanged passes with Aaron Ramsey, and clipped a deflected effort inside the far post. One minute, one-nil. The mood changed almost immediately though when Laurent Koscielny hobbled off with what appeared to be a thigh strain, and hopefully not a serious one. Kieran Gibbs came on at left-back and the skipper switched to the centre alongside the excellent again Per Mertesacker.

Everton’s response told us everything about why they started the match a point and a place ahead of us. Generally workmanlike all over the park, they have stand-out performers in Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini. Both caught the eye as the hosts stood toe to toe with us, and backed us up to the ropes with a series of jabs at at our defence. The equaliser, when it arrived just before the half hour, was no more than they deserved. Disappointingly though it came after we had three opportunities to relieve the danger, but Ramsey, Mikel Arteta, and Bacary Sagna contrived to give up our advantage and Fellaini placed a curling finish past Vermaelen’s half-hearted challenge.

That may seem harsh, but it is such lapses in concentration that are costing us dear at present. Set into context the side were under a lot of pressure from confident opponents and generally defended well as Everton pressured hard. The scoreline at half-time was a fair one. The second half provided more of the same, with both sides looking to win the game, but we were relying more on the counter attack while Everton were determined to press as high up the pitch as possible.

For the neutrals it must have been absorbing stuff, but the tension involved for the strictly partial detracted from such an appreciation of the game as a contest. It also didn’t help that Michael Oliver riled both sets of supporters with his inconsistent handling of the match, something I would have avoided saying had we lost.

Memorable moments in the second half included an immaculate block by Gibbs and a fine reaction save from the impressive Wojciech Szczesny as Everton sought a winner. We looked capable of nicking the points as well and came closest with an Olivier Giroud header and a couple of efforts from the otherwise subdued Santi Cazorla. As the final minutes ticked away both teams appeared to have settled for a point apiece. From our point of view this was a much better performance than the draw at Villa on Saturday, largely because the opposition were so much better.

If your glass is half full then we are now unbeaten in six and face not the harshest set of fixtures in December. If it is half-empty then we are still not quite firing on all cylinders and that is proving to be a real frustration. Our only defeat in November, often a poisonous month for us, came at Old Trafford on the third. Our only wins came in a four day spell against the little club up the road and Montpellier. Rather than argue with each other let us accept that there is something for both sides of the debate to point to in all of that.

Emirates Stadium Family Tour Competition

Check back to the match preview for your chance to win a Legends Tour of the Emirates Stadium for four courtesy of Experience Days. There is some confusion over the identity of the second FA Cup Final goalscorer. Eddie Kelly (whoops, it is him!) is mentioned on the Experience Days site and not the official Arsenal site as a Legends tour host these days. I will accept entries as being correct if you name the other one only.

241 Responses to “Something For Everyone In Goodison Stalemate”

Just home from the pub, no back-drinking done yet – that will have to wait until tomorrow because I need to be off to bed rather sharpish. But first a few thoughts on the game!

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In this era of freeze-frame analysis and constant looking for the problem angle I am sure some will be looking for scapegoats (i.e. for the most part do whatever they can to blame everything on Ramsey) or pointing to technical mistakes. Some will moan and groan about two dropped points.

But not me. That was a fucking brilliant game of football. End to end stuff for 90 minutes. Both teams could have won it right down to the last seconds of the game.

Were there technical mistakes? Sure. From both teams.

Was it a shit pass by Sagna before their goal? Oh, yes.

But let’s also give credit to the relentless pressing by Everton. Every mistake isn’t just down to us, if we had scored that goal we would have been creaming our pants and not given a second’s thought to how it started.

Everton played well and Fellaini is a fucking monster when he is on his game, there are no two ways about that. I wanted a win of course, but the point we got is a good one. We have now done away with playing at Old Toilet, at Anfield, at the Britannia, at Middle Eastlands and at Goodisson. We are six points off third place. We are not out of it by any means.

And lastly, on Swedish TV they reported that Chelsea fans had chanted “We want our Chelsea back”. Now, can you be more spoilt and unaware of your own history? And what Chelsea would that be, byt the way? The one that went 50 years without winning the league and were hours from going out of business until a Russian wanker with a, shall we say, slightly shady past came and bought you a league title and a few more trophies?

Well in Sir and a great post. Lots of perspective there which some of us, me included, need to get to grips with.

‘Holic

Great read all round although the positive stick seems to getting wielded a little more than necessary!

“Generally workmanlike all over the park…”

Isn’t that our biggest problem here? A team only needs to put in a shift to stop us from playing completely. Where is our workmanlike performance? I remember it being good enough to stifle the likes of Arsalona not so long ago. Worked pretty well for the bus stop too.

When we are passing with such inaccuracy and with so little creative talent in their half, surely a few workmen would not go entirely amiss?!

Everton fan here …. What a pleasure to read a balanced view of a really good game of football. As ever your man Wenger presents another collection of talented footballers and the Premier League serves up another incompetent Ref …. How he arrived at some of those decisions(to the detriment of both teams) is beyond me

Hope you guys are enjoying the graft and craft of Mr Arteta and hope to see you one place below us (in 5th position) in May !!

Good point, performance rubbish but rubbish is becoming the norm. A point is not really good enough though, as we’re having to win just to stand still.

Cazorla needs a couple of games off, but I’ve felt that for a while. He looks frustrated by his own performances, and although he has had the odd half recently where he’s done well, he is way off his early form.

This team needs a leader. Another old complaint though.

I don’t look forward to games any more, don’t feel anything watching them apart from irritation (Spurs was exciting and meant something but nothing else does) and it’s not because we’re a very average side, it’s because I know what we’re going to get served up thesedays. And it ain’t good.

Last season I thought we would finish top four even after losing 8-2. This year I can see no better than sixth.

That fourth paragraph doesn’t make much sense. What I mean is we are average on the pitch and that’s not the crime. The attitude and work rate just isn’t there, which is the reason I can’t look forward to watching any more.

I’ve been told tonight that “Ramsey was the remote cause of their goal.”

Now, when he lost the ball and they broke forward, Gooners everywhere would have breathed a huge sigh of relief to see the ball end up nestled safely in Sir Chesney’s arms. When he rolled it out to Bac, we were starting a new phase of play, in which Ramsey would play no part. Bac played a hospital pass to Arteta, and his panicky attempt to rectify that error saw the ball land perfectly at Fellaini’s feet. Tommy should have done better to block the shot, but he didn’t, and the ball ended up in our net.

Given that sequence of events, I fail to see how anyone could blame Ramsey for that goal. Sure, he was dispossessed and that led to a dangerous attack from Everton, but when Chesney smothered the ball, the attack Ramsey’s mistake created was over, and it was our turn to attack. That so many are fixated on heaping the blame for that goal on his shoulders shows that “Blame Ramsey” has become a pre-determined narrative in some quarters, and it is extremely disheartening.

Someone even tried to compare that goal with our goal against the Mugsmashers, when Stevie G lost the ball and we countered and scored. That’s like comparing apples and aeroplanes. In the build up to Poldi’s goal, Liverpool never got the ball back, never got the chance to stop the attack, or to regroup. Had Reina gotten the ball that day, rolled it to Johnson and he lost the ball and we scored, I doubt any Liverpool fan would be yelling for Gerrard’s head on a pike.

The vitriol heaped on Ramsey is, frankly, sickening. In the last few minutes of the game, counter after counter broke down because Jack lost the ball. Nobody’s abusing him. Nobody’s abusing Sagna for his lapse in concentration, or the fact that he didn’t seem to get a single cross beyong Baines all night. Where’s the abuse for Tommy for turning his back on a shot? The silence is deafening. Instead, they’re all over Ramsey whose assist was instrumental in the point we took away from Goodison Park tonight.

Ramsey gets stick ahead of the likes of Wilshere, who was peripheral tonight, because there’s a good player in Wilshere. Ramsey is not as good as he thinks he is, and if others are sick of the stick he gets, I’m just sick of seeing him in the team.

Consistently inconsistent was the phrase used about a week ago. I guess the last two performances are great examples of that.

I have only seen the brief highlights on MOTD and read various reports. I must say that I am not Aaron Ramsey’s biggest fan by any means, but how he can be blamed for their goal is beyond me, It was very poor from Bacs and our warrior captain hardly covered himself in glory. I do not think a point at Everton is a bad point. However some of the frustrations shown by a few both here and on the previous post are not just born out of tonight’s performance. It has been building up over a long period now. Many seem to think that a top 4 finish is nailed on. I must say, I wish I had your optimism. I see it as anything but nailed on. We need to find some form and more importantly some consistency. At the moment we are going into games that from a fans point of view we are just unable to predict. Why? Because we have no idea what we will witness.

I wanted 4 points from the two away trips. To have secured only 2 does not sit well with me. To have got on the score sheet with only one deflected effort is more of a worry. Certain players clearly need resting. Sadly they are unlikely to get their rest as there is no one available to fill there boots.

I am not unhappy with a point tonight but we would do well to remember that far tougher tests lay ahead. Time to sit back, put the blindfold on and just go with that rollercoaster journey.

Evening Holic
Draw a fair result i thought on the balance of play.
Kos gone for 4 with a groin strain,
So no more defensive injuries needed before the New Year,otherwise we will be cactus.
Swansea will visit on Saturday brimming with confidence after knocking off West Brom tonight.
So should be an interesting game.
Cheers
The Sweeper

Thanks for the summary Holic and Lars. Missed the whole thing due to a prior commitment (wine tasting and dinner – Fucking good, I have to admit). I never feel that Goodison is a nailed on win despite the recent great results and last season’s 3 points were larceny. Your reports suggest an improvement on Saturday and while I too would have liked 4 points from these two fixtures and hoped for a win tonight. I reckon we live to fight again. Hopefully the boo boys don’t have too much of a hissy fit.

If Rosicky was fit enough to be on the bench he was fit enough to replace the woeful (yet again) Ramsey sometime in the game.

It was about tis time last year that Rosicky almost single-handedly turned our season around for us (with the help of RvP of course). Let’s hope he can do the same again this year. I’m getting tired of all these draws…

Tim … Ramsey is the ‘scapegoat’ for very good reasons this year. He dallies on the ball too often and ends up losing it in the process, finds an Arsenal shirt with maybe one in every three passes in attack, while more often preferring to pass backwards towards our goal when we should be breaking forward.

Yes, I remember him playing well in the past, and he’s not the only one apparently incapable of the fast, accurate passing we like to think of as Arsenal’s style but which, in truth, it hasn’t been for several years now.

The problem is we need to look at both sides of that question, for example:

Vs. Everton…Did Ramsey make less incomplete passes/times caught in possession than Cazorla or Arteta?

The problem with Ramsey is actually, amusingly, exactly what Arsenal are lacking…Consistency. Being better than one of your team-mates on any given day is simply not an excuse for being worse than the majority most of the time.

I personally like Ramsey. I think that he has a lot of heart and passion for both the game and the club. I just think that he is being played out of position, out of form and, for those reason, is running out of time.

So, who makes the decisions to keep playing a player out of position and out of form?

And there we have the $6,000,000 question that comes with a filthy, dirty answer that nobody genuinely in love with the club really wants to give.

Ramsey bashing seems to be quite popular these days, especially as the search for a scapegoat continues. For those indulging I would pose one question. Have you ever seen Aaron Ramsey give anything less than 100%? You can debate his good and bad points all day. You can say he is not good enough? But all I would say is remember your answer to the first question. If he pulls on that famous red shirt and gives his all then we as fans can ask for no more. If he is not good enough then that is not down to him. He does not pick the team.

Steve
you pessimist you.!!
My thoughts on young Ramsey are well documented,his problem is in the head,he doesn’t process things quickly enough,hence he is a fraction of a second behind what is in front of him,unlike the top players who are a fraction of a second ahead in the same situation.
To put it aother way,he doesn’t trust what his instinct tells him to do,and that fatal hesitation is his undoing.
Whether he will end up like a Ray Parlour,who gave 100% honest endeavor,never shirked a tackle and ran all day,without having the Football brain to get to the top of his profession,only time will tell.
Eddie Kelly would be another prime example,even Peter Storey or Gilles Grimandi.Not the most talented, but did a job for the team.
Every squad needs a workhorse,for those games when you need to dig in and get your hands dirty, and there are plenty of workhorses running around in the Premier League,maybe young Ramsey is destined to be ours.
Cheers
The Sweeper

He had his leg snapped in half just 8 weeks after turning 18 years of age.

At that time he was our 2nd best midfielder and the great white hope due to his youth and form.

He’s not a primary reason for our slowish start to this season nor last. Our defence is better, its our lack of total goals that are a concern, not something I would pin down to someone being played wide right/helping out in the middle. He has routinely been played out of position and never stops working from the first whistle to the last. Other players (all players) make many mistakes every week, some get noted but most get overlooked. Something approaching good fortune would already see him with 3 or 4 goals this season. To say he slows play down and looks cumbersome in a midfield that features Cazorla and Wilshere is more than unfair. He’s young and adaptable enough that coaching can see him improve on his noted weaknesses.

At present he would (and should) be playing less often if others were fit and available but he’s not someone I’d like to see cast aside. Especially when arguably better players like Rosicky and Diaby are simply not available very often. Last season he was ran into the ground with 44 appearances when it should have been a year to ease him back in with perhaps 20-30.

If he creates three goals in his next start people will just be saying ‘Ramsey will be back to useless next week’. I see more heart from him than 2 or 3 others combined who will remain unnamed.

Used the suggested streams on this site, Tim’s with fair to middling success in the first half, and Eandy’s with great success in the second. My heartrate was much higher than normal as we kept losing possession in dangerous areas but the feared second half Everton goal did not come so a decent point to get under the circumstances. But we need an injection of something to carry us through this patch. Unbeaten in the last four but not convincing anybody.

‘holic: top top & fair blog. (I kept to the self-imposed ban on twitter/arses/drinks).
Followed the game through the C+ multiplex, so only bits at a time, which gave me the same impression of the game, except one clear bit: when Everton equalised, it didn’t ‘sound’ to be ‘no more than they deserved’, really. But I didn’t have the benefit of the whole picture.
And the result overall seemed fair.
I however had the benefit of one cheerful moment (which sadly didn’t mean a swing of poitns in the end): comedy Spu*s own-goal.

I only got to watch the first half due to work commitments but from what I saw we gave it a good crack and the only player who seemed below his best was Bac. Everyone else seemed commited to the cause and we were just missing some end product.

I am getting sick of the constant picking on of Ramsey and if he can get to a Ray Palour level as suggested earlier I would be wrapped for the lad.

I would also like to commend the toffees on their desire to harass and chase which created their goal and in my opinion that is part of being a good football team.

Chins up, support the lads and the manager come what may and I think you will enjoy the games more.

Fucking hell, reading what some say you’d think we’d just lost at home to Yeovil and not got a point in a cracking game at a ground where only one away team has won in the past twelve or so months and where Man City, Chelsea, Tottenham and ManU have all left with no points at all in that period.

There is room for improvement all over the place, but last night was great entertainment in my eyes.

Steve T: while the ever-moving three weeks does seem to exist, I must correct you on Jack Wilshere. He had surgery on his ankle in late August or maybe early September and was immediately said to have a chance to back in February at the earliest.

I’m with Tim @31 on Aaron Ramsey. There isn’t a bigger hearted player in the team. Tremendous work rate. Always makes himself available as an outlet to the man on the ball. Constantly moving. Overplayed last season. Class player.

But some Arsenal fans always need a scapegoat – always have, always will. And the current one is Rambo. Really pathetic.

Decent performance from the team last night. I felt they showed more effort and desire than they did against Villa, but our opponents more than matched us for effort, desire and quality too, hence the end to end stuff and a game that was easier on the eye than Villa.

Everton might just have nicked all 3 points off us, if they had a little more quality up front. Substitute “Everton” and “Us” in the last sentence with “We” and “Everton”, and I think that mostly explains why we have Everton for company on the league table.

One point away from Everton isn’t bad by any means, but just the one point against Villa, tinges the last few days with a feeling of glass being half-empty, Arsenal wise at least.

Everything else though is glass full and running over, so onwards and upwards.
Bring on Swansea and lets do ’em, we are more than due another decent run of wins.
COYRRRs!!!.

As for Ramsey, I had a bit of a rant down the pub last night when people were moaning and made pretty much exactly the same points as bath does@50 – and some people actually went “hmm, you have a point there!”. Result! 🙂

Another point about last night that is connected to Ramsey: it is often said that Arsene never changes things during games, and while there is some validity to that I have yet to see anyone mention the fact that last night Arsene switched Walcott to the left and Aaron to the right after about half an hour or so because Walcott just couldn’t be arsed to track Baines. Sagna was constantly being overloaded with both Baines and Pienaar attacking him and no help at all coming from Theo. Ramsey at least ran his socks off to track Baines and after that switch of positions the threat from the Everton left wing was significantly reduced.

Lars@58
Thanks for that observation about the logic behind the switch of Ramsey/Walcott. I shall pay more attention in future. 🙂
Great game last night. Point won imo against a good team.
Surely we have enough money to prise Fellaini and Baines away from Everton? Doesn’t MA have their phone numbers? Don’t they want to play football at the highest level?

I saw the same match as Lars. Very little to complain about, good commitment from both sides, plenty of entertainment.

We don’t have quite the quality we used to, and we have players who need resting and haven’t been due to an under-strength squad.

These are two issues that I fervently hope will be properly addressed in the summer (or even January).

Until the chance to address these issues arises we need to be realistic. A point at Goodison is a decent result, a top four finish will be enough this season and the annual implosion over at Chelsea makes me think we have half a chance of nabbing a cup into the bargain.

‘Holic and Lars – well played. Ahhhh perspective – good to have a counterpoint or two to some of the messy hysteria spewed forth elsewhere.

This headline in the Daily Hate Mail (the one tabs can be seen posing alluringly in at least once a week, so i hear) caught my, ermm – eye:
Koscielny KO: Crocked Gunners defender out until Christmas after groin blow

Morning Holic and holics. We did lose last nite, one Laurent Koscielny 🙁 He will be missed. Fellaini was omnipresent, very impressive. Good game Holic, one I managed to enjoy despite not being a nuetral. Our defending was pretty darn good except for the series of blunders (you alluded to) that led up to their goal. Santi in the 2nd half started to unravel and clearly needs a Mental Health Day (don’t we all 🙂 Thought Everton was a tad too physical on our lads in the first half (at least that’s the way I saw it). Course, none of our players lost a tooth in the process (poor Peter Crouch) 🙁 Now a word about Aaron, please 🙂 We’ve all seen him give interviews. Rarely does he crack a smile. Very serious lad. On the pitch, he NEVER STOPS trying. Theo put a beauty in the back of the net and sort of faded out…but not Ramsey. And it’s official, our very own Woj, claimed MOTM (proud of you son) 🙂

Little to add really to those contributions and the excellent stuff from N7 and Tim in the last set of drinks.

Indeed a skim read of the drinks made in the immediate aftermath of the game really does reveal some characters who have seemingly lost all sense of perspective and wish merely to push an agenda rather than concentrate on what the game ACTUALLY revealed. The scoreline, it seems, really is all.

Well, the scoreline really wasn’t half bad. A draw against a side who have an excellent home record and who mix industry with no little skill should never be the catalyst for yet another round of “Club in crisis, woe is me” histrionics.

I have been critical at times this season, more than I am used to and more than I am comfortable with. Norwich was dreadful, Man Utd had me spitting fury and Fulham was a comedy. The tactical rigidity often leaves me frustrated, and I remain underwhelmed with much that goes on away from the pitch from new sponsorship deals to squad strengthening.

But come on, last night was not the time to air (yet again) those grievances. We went up to Everton, competed for every ball, and came away with a creditable draw against a good side in a great game that might have been won or lost.

I really don’t understand those who saw anything other than a whole-hearted performance full of endeavour and commitment from Aaron Ramsey. Those that decided to castigate AW on the back of that selection, in circumstances where most supporters recognised that Poldi was due a rest, are, it seems to me, scraping the bottom of a particularly hate-filled barrel.

Pluses – Sches, though I felt he was one (among many) at fault for Everton’s goal, radiates an authority and confidence that Mannone simply doesn’t have (and probably never will), and it is surely no coincidence that we have looked tighter at the back since his return. Aside from the goal I thought he was excellent.

It seems to have flown under the radar, but was it just me that thought that the Captain had his best game since the early stages of the season? I thought he mixed a no nonsense attitude at the back with a wholly commendable desire to drive us forward. Kos’s injury is unfortunate but predictable (when are we ever allowed the luxury of choice?), but it gives TV5 the opportunity of an extended run in his preferred position to consolidate and build on that performance. Let’s hope he does so.

Mertesacker and Gibbs both played well, and Arteta worked his socks off . Giroud was willing all game, yet again, and made the most of what was, at times, a laboured service. More crosses please, and he will score plenty.

Theo was, well, Theo, a good goal, and thereafter he was threatening, anonymous and wasteful probably in equal measure.

On the downside, Bac will have better games, and Cazorla looked tired to me. He needs a break, let’s hope Rosicky’s fitness holds up to give him one. Jack was tidy and worked very hard, but he’s still working towards full match fitness and awareness, and there were times when he needed too long on the ball. It will come.

Yes there were times when our possession game frustrated. The five minutes that preceded Everton’s goal in which we retained possession 45 yards out from their goal with a series of neat and tidy passes that ultimately went absolutely nowhere was an example of this, but had we nicked a winner in the last twenty minutes, at a time when I thought we were the better side, everybody today would be saying that that was the consummate away performance. On such fine margins do the comments of certainty hang.

A hard fought draw with a fair result. Not completely satisfying but it is where we find ourselves. We are a proud club that expects to win them all. When we don’t it rubs on all of us. But if the supporters go off on the team and the players every time we draw, it does nothing but damage the teams confidence. Confidence that we all know is a fickle little girl wearing a tutu. We need her as much as ever this season so lets not freak out every time a team plays us to a stalemate.

tabs: cheers, and it will come as no surprise to you that once again we are in agreement: Vermaelen had his best game for quite a while. He probably could have tried to close down Fellaini a little more for the goal but other than that he looked far more confident and calm than he has done in a while. And the defense is without a doubt a whole lot calmer with Sir Ches in goal. We really, really need him to stay fit now.

@57 yeah wenger makes a lot of money, but i’d suggest reading zach slaton from forbes who’s written about a premier league performance model as it relates to overall spend. our club repeatedly has overperformed relative to spend for the past several (or more) seasons, and this is down to one man, wenger. sure, he might be very well paid, but zach’s model estimates that wenger gives us a relative £100 m boost in team net spend each season. for me, that’s still good money. if we’re talking about gazidis though and the commercial side of the club, i start getting a little more miserly.

Good stuff, holic, although I will have to disagree about where to lay the blame about our conceeded goal. Yes, Ramsey gave the ball away, but that attack was snuffed out when Woj dove at the attackers feet and retrived the ball. He then passed it out to Sagna, who put Arteta in all kinds of trouble with a suicide pass, Pienaarus then chalenged (read fouled) Arteta, the ball span loose, Sagna tried to clear it, but passed it straight to the feet of Fellani who put it away with aplomb. Some may say Woj might of done better, I would not be one of them. Woj couldn’t of seen it untill it was past the defendetr that was blocking his view. IMHO the blame lays firmly at the feet of Sagna, another costly individual error in a season when individual errors are killing us.

I have yet to catch up on the drinks in this bar, but I have finished off the lot on the previous effort, If I may…;

To those of you who continue to blame Ramsey for almost everything.

Do you actually watch the games or do you just jump on to the latest Boo Boy Brigade Bandwagon?

I’ll be the first to admit that he may not be the greatest player to ever pull on our shirt, but he never hides and he’s always there in the thick of things. Not everything he does comes off, but he’s always trying to make himself available. He wasn’t the worst player on our team yesterday, not by a long shot.

Arteta wasn’t up to his usual (admitedly extreamly high) standard, JW was largely un-influentional, Santi went missing for large chunks of the game and Walcott hardly got a look in, yet all I’m reading is how “Ramsey should never play again”. Please gents, a bit of perspective would be welcome.

With regards to Thiery Wrightkamp, I actually agree with a lot of the points you made in your first post, it may of came over as a rant to some, but I can see what you were trying to do there and although I’m not 100% around to your way of thinking I do share many of your concerns. True Storey made a valid point that maybe we should all just lower our expectations a bit, a good solution to avoid heartache, however I think it’s not unreasonable for us to expect a little more from this group (based on the season as a whole, not yesterdays showing).

We played fourteen matches, eight away, and most of the usually tough (for us in recent years) away destinations are done with: Man U, Stoke, Liverpool, Man City. We have an excellent record at Goodison and the 1-1 was fair against a side that I think is going unbeaten at home since last March. The un-Arsenal like stray passes are a worry, but this remains a team in evolution. For instance, someone should have realized earlier yesterday that a few more decent balls in the box were needed to get Giroud into the game. Both Gibbo — who is generally good with crosses — and Sagna — who is generally mediocre with crosses, the only poor side of his game — were very ineffective with the crosses.

Moyes has splendidly managed Fellaini’s career and progress thus far, very Arsene Wenger-esque. Learning to read the game and improve the technical abilities playing from deeper positions where the physicality used to compensate for lapses in technical bits. No wonder — despite being a selling club like us in recent years — that he fought so hard to keep Fellaini at Everton. I think one of the big moneybaags — not us — would come knocking very soon with a large kitty, Madrid comes to mind. That mixture of quality, strength and work rate is rare — that was as good an overall performance against us from a single player in PL in recent years as I can recall.

A thing about Ramsey: everything else in his game would just click once he becomes a fraction faster with his decision making. If we had good cover then a season long loan at a mid-table club would have done wonders. His spatial awareness has improved a lot since last season. The decision making doesn’t yet come as an instinctive move but he filters that through for a moment. In a team where the primary game plan is not built around quick intricate passing he would have had a bit more time to sort this out.

OK, I have had time to think on it, sleep on it and chew over it and, in spite of all the positive glow here, I still don’t understand how we are all seeing such different things here.

As far as I can tell, we went to Everton and, as we didn’t lose to a team that are very hard to beat at home, everything is fine and dandy.

Well, I believe that things are a little less black and white than that. I believe that we were outplayed by Everton for a lot of the game, even though we had the majority of the possession. I believe that we were second to the majority of 50/50 balls and very much second in terms of effort and work-rate even though everybody is talking about the “hard-earned draw” that we got. I believe that switching Ramsey and Walcott made not one jot of difference in terms of how much work Sagna had to do in either half as the narrow midfield offers no protection whatsoever to the flanks even though it apparently creates very little too. In fact – and I am open to being corrected by anybody that wishes to watch the game again and do a count up – I believe that Sagna had more to deal with in the second half than the first and we conceded more space and came under more threat down our right than anywhere else on the pitch. I believe that Everton worked harder, were more committed, were more positive and more inventive all round.

But last, and by no means least, I believe that comments about how we were just lacking in the final third are ridiculous when we could not work three passes in midfield, dallied in defence far too often, played suicide passes across the defence that most of us learned not to do from about 6 years old, created almost nothing all game and should have conceded a penalty had the referee been even close to consistent. In actual fact, I believe that we were very lucky that Everton struggled to find that “spark” in the final third as it could have been embarrassing had they done so.

All of that said, we do have two tricky games coming up, no matter what anybody thinks, and getting 4 points from those would certainly be a step in the right direction. Two winnable games, yes. Two easy games, absolutely not. Getting 6 points may even be enough to get us through to Christmas in the top 6, although the next three games after are much more tricky.

I seriously hope that January brings a nice set of late gifts, although I seriously doubt that will happen. Talk of Cavani, Gomez etc. will inevitably peter out and become a search for a super quality winger to replace Theo right up until deadline day when we will have signed nobody to fill that role and will start hearing about how The Ox needs 5 years out of position on the right to ensure that he never really develops into the player that he could be, Ramsey can cover him and we don’t need a centre midfielder even with those two having their development and careers destroyed because Rosicky and Diaby will be like new signings.

i feel we should run the risk of drawing a tough competitor in the CL by resting players against the greeks. I feel that coming first actually makes little difference in the long run, and that it is all down to the luck of the draw. – Happy with a point at everton, lets get 3 on the weekend (hopefully xD)

Thierry – Sorry mate, but I can’t read your post as anything more than hyperbolic over-reaction drawn more from a perception of the season as a whole rather than what actually occurred last night. Just my opinion.

After playing catch up, I pretty much saw the same game as Lars and Tabs did and in the end we earned a hard fought point.

But if I´m completly honest I believe that Everton were by far the better team, they closed us down and harrassed us magnificently. We may of had more pocession but we didn´t really do much with it. I´m sure it was a great game for the neutrals but none of us here are neuteral so I can understand the dissapointment from some.

Due to nothing short of a miracle we´re still pretty much in touching distance of third spot, but let´s not decieve ourselves here, a vast improvement is needed to turn our fortunes around. If we think we´ll just have to go through the motions to beat either Swansea or West Brom then we´re in for a rude awakening, these teams are playing very well of late.

I was relived to see others coming to AR´s defence too, he really doesn´t deserve the shit he´s getting.

Glad you agree about the goal Ollie, I was begining to think I was the only one (or you had your tin hat on 😉 )

I´m off out tonight, dart away match, so a drink on the bar for all the regulars on me.

“Thierry – Sorry mate, but I can’t read your post as anything more than hyperbolic over-reaction drawn more from a perception of the season as a whole rather than what actually occurred last night. Just my opinion.”

Which part? I certainly believe that the parts regarding the Everton match are at the very least reasoned and valid.

They DID outplay us for the majority of the game.
They DID win most of the 50/50 balls
They DID work harder than us all over the pitch (with the exception of the goalkeepers which is NOT a good thing)
They DID get more joy down our right hand side than anywhere else on the pitch (apart from gifting them a goal with a series of bewildering errors in the centre of the park in front of our penalty box)
They DID show more quality than we did
They DID show more commitment
They WERE more positive

What am I missing here?! None of that appears to be hyperbolic nor over-reaction. I actually thought that I did all of that bit yesterday 😉

1. I don’t think they did. Both teams had periods in the ascendancy.
2. I don’t agree.
3. I don’t think Arsenal’s commitment on the night can be questioned.
4. Agreed. I don’t think Bac had one of his better nights.
5. Can’t agree. Most of their play was long balls to Fellaini who had a great game. Footballistically Arsenal were better.
6. See above.
7. To be expected. A good side playing at home.

We upped our efforts last night but needed to as Everton were a far superior team to Villa.

The mid-field were muscled out of the ball on numerous occasions. They are a very small group of players, lacking pace and strength and against the more athletic player they fail to hold their own. Arsene’s gamble on Diaby’s fitness and not to replace Song with a DMF of stature has sadly failed, putting us in real difficulties.

Without a dominant MF our forwards are not going to see enough of the ball . Arteta and Cathorla have been shackled by opponents in the last few games, who work their socks off and pinch the ball off them with relative ease.

My friend Szczesny earned his pay last night and I also thought Tommy V had his best game in weeks. A pity AA23 was not on the bench, although I doubt whether Arsene would have made good use of him in any event- a great pity!

Everton Didn’t hit as many long balls as we might like to think they did and didn’t fall over entirely in pass completion either. Although I concede honourably that we did actually pass the ball more accurately than they did (by a fairly small amount), I don’t believe that passing the ball left, right and backwards necessarily shows any real quality to the passing in question.

Total Crosses: 26 – 27
Successful Crosses: 19.2% – 14.8%

Everton crossed the ball slightly better than we did, but I think that they struggled to players in the box when it counted and, not only the cross completion figures but the scoreboard would have told a different story had they managed to do that. I guess that it one of the major drawbacks of the pressing game; When you actually win the ball back you struggle to find men further forward than yourself.

Tackles: 30 – 23

Everton showed more desire to win the ball back than we did.

Tackles won: 66.7% (20 out of 30) – 91.3% (WOW! OK, I will happily take that one on the chin! Feck me that is some seriously accurate tackling for a team that appeared to not even be allowed to try and tackle due to an odd referee! Well done the Gooners!)

Clearances: 30 – 38

Everton clearly put our defence under more pressure than we did theirs. Couple that with the crossing stats and the number of shots on goal and I think that demonstrates that they played with more quality than we did.

I know, they are just stats and all that, but these seem to indicate that I wasn’t watching a different game to everybody else, just that everybody else seems to have drawn really different conclusions from what happened.

As I said yesterday, I am not looking for a “Cyber Scrap” and as I said today, I spent some time mulling it over and trying to relax a little whilst back-drinking here and checking out some other views too. I just don’t think I am that far off the mark. Something appears to be really wrong with this team and I don’t see what we can do about it apart from replace in the areas where the problems seem to be at their most obvious and critical.

The trouble is, I just seem to keep coming to the same conclusion where that last part is concerned, and I don’t want to 🙁

Anyway, on a totally different tack, does Gazidis’ appointment to the ECA now mean that FFP may actually get enforced and does this further indicate that AFC already knew this appointment was coming some time ago?

Seems a bit of a leap to suggest that we have chosen to set up a model that depends so heavily on FFP and then “totally out of the blue” along comes UEFA with a job for him working directly on policy formation and enforcement…

Maybe AFC have been right all along and the oil, gas and blood trains are about to get at least slowed up, maybe even halted.

Evening All,
Barring any more injuries,i am supremely confident we will finish in
the top 10 this season.
Anything better than that i will have to reassess after the madness of Christmas and New Year,and the close of the transfer window at the end of January.
Cheers
A very confident Sweeper

Thierry, I appreciate the work that went into that post, though you will know my general view of stats. I think we will have to agree to disagree.

My basic point is that I saw nothing in the performance, and certainly not the result, for Arsenal fans to be chucking their toys out of the pram. That point is not aimed at you specifically, but at some of the more hysterical commentary that I have read today.

We went up to Everton and got a point. That, in my book, is a good result. Much better Arsenal sides than last night’s side have gone up there and come away with nothing.

Do I think everything is hunky-dory? No I don’t, and I have said as much on a number of occasions. Do I think we are as bad and the Manager as incompetent as some would have us believe? Absolutely not.

If the Club is going to be castigated after an away draw at Everton, then we really are getting to the stage where we are going to have endless “State of the Nation (Club)” discussions after every single game that doesn’t deliver the perfect performance and the perfect result.

Thanks TaBS…Appreciate everything that you have said there too. I agree that things weren’t as bad last night as they have been on other occasions this season but I also think that repairs are needed and I don’t have any faith in the current board or policies to address them.

Results in December and action/inaction in January will tell us all much of what we are all thinking, whether we are writing it or not.

Evening Tabs
Might have to revise that to top 12 mate,as i have just heard Sagna has a badly inflamed foot after taking a knock at Everton and will likely miss at least the Swansea game.
Trust you are still off the Gaspers.??
Although looking at the pic of you at Villa Park,you looked about as cheerful as a squirrel who has discovered he hasn’t got enough nuts stored away for the winter hibernation,and to top it off,he has found some compromising text messages from his next door neighbour on Mrs Squirrel’s mobile phone.!!

Yeah he is a hard worker and all that, but he is starting to become to much of an liability. His sloppy passing yesterday got us into enough trouble to actually lose the game.
1. He gave the ball away that ended in the Everton equalizer.
2. He gave the ball away forcing Gibbs to bring down a player which resultet in a booking.
3. He also gave the ball away that should have been an easy goal for Everton haven´t Jelovic stolen the ball while offside from his team mate.”

HAHAHAHA! I don’t rate Ramsey as highly as some, but that is just ridiculous! He had basically nothing to do with the goal, Gibbs did not have to bring down his man, he is plenty quick enough to have gotten a decent run on the guy over 25 yards and well, Jelovic being a twat is not a reason for Ramsey to get a caning!

And, by the way, what is all the fuss about regards Jelovic? Looked like a useless bag of shite tied up with strong to me 🙂

Not at my happiest I must admit.We were right at the front and had no cover so by the time that photo was taken, I had spent the best part of two hours in the driving rain. Add a pretty sub-standard performance and an all day pre-match drink up with the visiting Swedes, and I think it’s safe to say I wasn’t feeling at my most chipper. Well that’s my excuse anyway and I’m sticking to it!

Lack of nuts, as Wolfie will tell you, is a constant source of irritation! 😉

Context is everything. If the game is seen from the perspective of an away game against a club who consistently performs well against top 4 teams, then a 1-1 draw is a good result.

If it is seen in terms of going 1-0 ahead and then conceding a really, really dumb goal, then it is not. How is it possible to concede a goal from our goalkeeping rolling the ball out to our right back?!?!

The context of our performances against 5pur2 and Montpelier indicating that we had worked out how to play to Giroud’s strengths. How many good crosses were played into him last night? How many balls did he win in the air?

The context of being told we had a feast of midfielder options, so selling Song and not replacing him was clearly obvious. In August, I was left thinking we had The Ox, Diaby, Le Coq, Frimpong, Jack, Rosiscky, Arteta, Ramsey and Cazorla (9 midfielders) to rotate so players would avoid becoming overplayed and stale.

I am going to nail my colours to the mast. I am agnostic about Ramsey.

Some complain he is being played out of position. What is his position?

For someone who started his career as a wide right midfielder, he was being groomed to be a central midfielder but some of his best performances have been when he has been posted as an auxiliary playmaker on the left of a 4-2-3-1. From this position, he doesn’t slow down the movement of the ball from back to front and doesn’t seem to be burdened with the responsibility of being the main playmaker.

Enough of this tactical analysis bullshit.

The real context (the blue whale in the bathtub) is the 5th best paid manager who reportedly said a few months ago this is the best squad of players he has worked with is having to manage the expectations of supporters before an away game against Everton. We have a weak squad, with players earning £50-60,000 who will never play for us again, and positions where players have not been adequately replaced. We have one centre-forward!

Everton played with energy and Arteta was lucky not to be punished for giving away a penalty. Swansea are going to be interesting opponents on Saturday.

Sweeper @115…Now that you mention it, I remember Sagna being on the end of a particularly strong tackle from an Everton player (didn’t really notice who), and I remember a thought along the lines of, “Oh no, he’s broken his leg again!” flashing through my mind as he went down clutching his leg (same leg that got broken twice).
I think that tackle rattled him a bit, and was a factor in his overall “un-Bac-like” performance last night.

I just looked through the mail and on one envelope it said “Do you wish to spare the environment? Switch to electronic invoicing – no waste of paper and unneccesary transporting!”.

Inside the envelope was an A4 paper with very little printing on it that would easily have fit onto an A5 paper. At the bottom it said roughly “You have electronic invoicing, the invoice will be sent to your e-bank account”.

In other words, they sent me a letter using more than twice the amount of paper needed just to tell me I don’t need the letter they just sent me.

Speaking of prospective, the past 3 days in SUNNY California have seen a hell of a lot more rain than the 16 days in rainy Ireland, London and Paris. Not that I am complain…. Wait, yes I am complaining.

Delia @106…I’m with you on the issue of a dominant MF, though I’d say a dominant DMF instead. We’d never get the best out of the small statured, fleet footed, technical players that are most of our midfielders without one. Even Barca, the Kings of Tiki-Taka, always play with one.

Diaby was supposed to be the “one”, with probably Le Coq as back-up, but AW ‘s gamble so far has failed.

I also believe that playing Arteta as an anchor man is a huge waste of his abilities. Yes, he might play there once in a while, but playing him there as his permanent role in this team is a huge waste. We’d be much better going forward, with someone like him linking up with Cazorla.

Solution?…Get a proper physical, dominant DM, with all the traditional qualities of a good DM but who’s also (“almost as”, is probably more realistic) good at keeping and recycling posession, like Arteta.

If you are struggling to give up wanking there is a clinic in my local hospital for those with a similar problem. They meet every Monday evening. I will put your name name down. Just let them know if you can’t come…

” Solution?…Get a proper physical, dominant DM, with all the traditional qualities of a good DM but who’s also (“almost as”, is probably more realistic) good at keeping and recycling possession ”
________________________________________________________

We’ve already got one, DreamWright (post #131) … his name is Thomas Vermaelen. Playing him ahead of Mert and Kosk would solve a lot of problems in defence, and give him more opportunities to get forward where his cannon shot from distance would be more than useful in attack.

Apropos Ramsey. he has class but he’s been out of form for weeks now and clearly needs a few games in the reserves to get his confidence back. I’d like to know why Rosicky, if he was fit enough to be on the bench, wasn’t substituted for Ramsey for at least the last third of the Everton game?

Finally, Arsene needs to get them all practising passing with greater accuracy like they used to do years ago… two/three passes and we were in on goal, remember? Too many of the current squad pass the ball short, or TO the receiver instead of ahead of him, or playing safe backwards when we should be going forwards. It’s like watching strikers always trying to slide it round the keeper when there’s far more space in the top corners.

I don’t see how Vermaelen would make it as a defensive midfielder when at centre back he has no positional awareness (something vital in a good defensive midfielder) he still has a habit of belting forward when he really shouldn’t, and his tackling is a bit rubbish as well.

We don’t really need someone giving free kicks away around our box, which he would do, or leaving his post to rampage forward, which he already does and would probably do even more if he was in midfield.

Using Vermaelen in midfield would be finding a way of keeping him in the side because he’s not in our top two centre backs, rather than fulfilling our needs.

Oskar @135…Vermaelen at DM?. It most definitely will never happen, surely not under Wenger. But lets say its a possibility worth considering, I feel it won’t work/happen for the following reasons;

One, he’s too rash and not clean enough in the tackle. Any DM, worth his salt must have a calm head and must be clean in the tackle, that is, disposess an opponent without conceding a foul. Do you know how many silly fouls leading to goals TV has conceded this season?

Two, TV’s positioning can often be suspect. He also (too?) often fancies a dash forward to join the attack.

Three, I’m not sure how good he is at recieving, keeping and passing the ball to a team mate, while under constant pressure from an opponent.

Four, it simply will never happen. Not with Wenger still fixated on his “Arteta as DM/Anchorman” pet project, just ask Coquelin what I mean!.

If we were to play any of our current CB’s at DM, Koscielny will probably be the best choice (based on the above criteria at least).

Steve T @134
I’ve tried everything mate,makes no difference,once it gets on the rise,there is no stopping it,like trying to hold back the tide,so i guess i will just have to live with it.
The lovely C helps out when she is not attending to the inmates at the Secure Unit,but of course she cannot be around all the time.
There are worse things in Life.!!
Sagna expected back end of Jan,what year i am not sure.!!
Cheers
The Sweeper

Hello to all you gooners clad in the most pristine of red and white garbl!
Just popping my head in for a bit. Writing the script for a comic I want to create in my spare time has me busy like a bee. I’ve also been promoted so all the time I used to spend engaging in soliloquy is now spent being in charge and working my fingers to the bone. Ah well, a man’s gotta eat I guess.

Ramsey-bashing doesn’t make sense to me. If Fergie wanted him back in the day then he must possess something special. He’d run through walls for us but I feel at times people are hesitant to blame the popular players even when they’re having a bad day and just turn on Aaron like a ginger stepchild. That’s not unique to Arsenal fans though, all Prem fans have players in their team they pick on so fair enough I guess.

I’m in full agreement with Nonny on Vermaelen in midfield, I can not for the life of me see how he could work there. If there is any other position he could concievably work in, that is as a proper center-forward. But never in a million years is he midfield material in my eyes.

DreamWright@ 158, I agree we should buy the solution. Mikel has been a fantastic stop gap but it’s not his game and he should be rotated with LJW and Santi in the forward MF positions. I don’t think le Coq, much as I admire his progress, is ready to be in the DMF position for 30 games a season. And I don’t believe AD2 will be fit for 30 games a season. He too may be best seen as an alternative to LJW and Santi in the creative MF positions.

I still prefer the idea of a DB10 like man in the hole but Arsene probably sees the current formation as offering 2 of them. Even more reason for a big strong DM. Much as I appreciate Mikel’s performances this season, I think we need a bigger bastard (with ball skills) in there.

DW, not much as far as I can see. He’s back playing.
Haven’t watched Rennes much this season, but I’ve not particularly heard of him playing well recently. (had heard of him playing bad early in the season though)….

The Story
We note that John Cross posted a defence to The Daily Mirror’s ‘Theo Walcott wasn’t in the Arsenal calendar so he’s leaving’ story on their website on Thursday.

Our favourite line was this:

‘A few bloggers and some websites tried to demolish the story. Having of course missed the point completely: it was a story because people wanted to read it.’

Well, that’s not really how it works, is it? F365 could write a story headlined ‘Fergie wears ladies underwear and likes smearing himself with marmite before dancing around to LMFAO’s ‘I’m Sexy And I Know It” and people sure as sh*t would read it, but it wouldn’t be a news story because it isn’t true.

Heh Ollie, John Cross deserved a good walloping for that article so its good to see he’s got one.

As for Vermaelen in midfield, mark me down as another in #TeamNonny. I don’t think he’s suited to a midfield role at all.

Big midfield bastard? I have two. Capoue, because Snir likes him, and the big bloke up at Celtic who has made such an impression on me that I can’t remember his name. Garnered some good reports though.

I will admit that I have seen neither play, but when has ignorance ever stopped me from giving my opinion? 🙂

tabs @164…Haven’t heard much of Capoue recently, and I’ve seen him play just the once on the telly, when France played Japan and he looked decent.

The big bastard up at Celtic is Victor Wanyama, and I’ve read many a rave review about him this season. Never watched him play at all though, but based on current form (and who’s making the most headlines!), I’d take him over Capoue.

TS. So no integrity? And surely he doesn’t separate the two so well given the shit he tweets? Surely there’s no need for the crap on twitter? Or has he got a ‘John Cross -but not John Cross from the Mirror’ account on twitter?

I think that’s harsh Ollie. I put him in the Gooner-hack with agenda category (if there is such a thing). His enthusiasm (love?) for The Club often spills out on the Fans Forum. I can’t comment on his integrity, I’ve only met him once.

TS, Stockholm is, would you believe it, quite snowy (no, Top Man Snowy has nothing to do with it). It’s been snowing on and off since yesterday morning so now the ground is covered in the white stuff. Not that it will last though, I expect it all to rain away in a couple of days.

For what its worth I think he’ll buy two attacking players in January and not defensive ones.

I take the point that we need some reinforcement in defence – but I just don’t think its a priority at the moment. The priority is to have depth in the attacking sides of things because we’re over-reliant on Giroud, Caz, Poldi, JW,……… So in this context – I can’t see a DCM coming in until the summer at least and maybe not at all if Coq steps up.

Tabs@65 : Excellent post Sir. Agreed with every word except that, Woj was one of the many at fault. The shot was well placed and Woj would have done very well to save it. I thought the skipper had his best game of the season. He seemed very defiant and was driving the team forward with determination. Long may it continue. Hopefully we can go on good winning run into the New Year. Keep the faith Gooners!

Glad vermaelen played better, but do we need to rein deer capitain in?
When will Santi Clazorza come to town with his Bacs of toys? About tree weeks I would say. 😉
WojoHo to everyone and to all a good night

Bath 227….I guess that means Stan will have to spend some time looking after the new pad getting it into ship-shape, he may therefore have to give up the odd game or 2 at the Ems. It’s tough up the top 😉

Very unfortunate acnecidt. Sincerely wish that Aaron make a speedy recovery.In all honesty, I don’t believe that it was an unfair challenge, nor was it mistimed. The spot where Shawcross’ foot made contact with Aaron’s leg is exactly where the sweet-spot of the football would have been if Aaron hadn’t touched the ball a fraction of a second prior to his injury.Both players genuinely went for the ball at great velocity and neither wanted what ended up happening. No-one could possibly benefit from the situation so it’s equally harsh to fault Shawcross completely.I don’t even believe the red-card was necessarily deserved but I understand the referee’s decision to protect Shawcross from any possible backlash during the remainder of the game given the gravity of the situation.Although it’s quite sad what had transpired, it’s impressive to see the genuine care displayed by the players of both teams on the pitch and equally encouraging that the home fans showed their support for the fallen opponent. This is much more noble than the Chelsea fans booing Wayne Bridge for not shaking the hand of a person whom he had lost respect for.It’s one thing to support your team with great passion. It’s quite another to do so blindly without at least attempting to be considerate and tolerant to others who may not necessarily share your views.As an avid fan of football, I enjoy watching fiercely competitive matches where both teams play well. No-one wanted to see what happened to Aaron, but the desire and competitiveness shown by both players on this most unfortunate of plays is exactly what makes the game great.I respect those who think that Shawcross was in the wrong for his actions, though I disagree with that sentiment. I think it’s more important to send our thoughts and prayers to Aaron and the Ramsey family for what they’re going through and hope that such a promising career isn’t completely derailed by rotten luck.My sympathy is also with Ryan Shawcross for how badly he must feel for causing such a horrific injury to Aaron. I hope that he doesn’t suffer any retaliatory actions for it is hate breeding more hate that poisons the purity of this beautiful game.I wish that everyone can move forward in a positive manner.